CHORD

CHORD turns the middle of the keybed into eight chord pads: one key, one full chord, always in the key you set on SCALE. The left hand holds performance keys that strum, invert or split the chord; four knobs decide how rich and how wide the chords are. The chord pads work on every melodic page and feed the arpeggiator and the step sequencer.

Opening CHORD and switching it on

Turn SELECT to CHORD, between SCALE and TAPE on the wheel.

Chord input is one global switch, drawn at the top of the page as a big ON / OFF pill.

While chord input is on, a CHD badge sits in the header of every other page (space allowing; the CHORD page shows its switch instead), and the key LEDs show the chord layout.

Chord input works on every Groove OS page while the selected track is a synth track. It stands aside, without changing the switch, when:

• the selected track is a KIT (its drum pads keep the keys),
• the preset browser is open (auditioning never plays chords),
• a stock page is up (LFO, EDIT, stock GLO).

With the switch OFF, the CHORD page still shows what the pads would play, greyed, and the keys play normal notes.

The keybed

The 27 keys (F to G) split into three zones.

The zones are counted from the lowest key, so they stay put when you change the octave.

Chords are mono per press: pressing a new pad first stops the chord the last one started. Each chord has up to six notes.

The screen

While nothing sounds, the big chord is the last pad's chord with the current settings, so turning a knob shows what the next press will play.

Chord settings

The page has no SHIFT row. These settings are global, like the switch. The pads cannot be edited one at a time: all eight follow these four settings and the key.

A saved project keeps the four settings, LATCH with its latched mode, and the switch. See PROJECT.

COLOUR

Every chord is stacked in thirds from the scale, so each note is in key. COLOUR picks a recipe per chord quality; if a recipe would need a note that clashes in this scale, the pad falls back to a plainer chord. In C major the pads play:

Pad 8 plays pad 1's chord an octave up. Names are at most seven characters: a long one shortens maj to M (FM7#11), and drops the slash bass if it still doesn't fit.

VOICING

SPREAD

ROLL

ROLL strums the chord from the lowest note up. At 150 a four-note chord takes nearly half a second to unfold. Letting go of the pad before the roll ends drops the notes it hasn't reached yet.

Key and octave

• The key comes from SCALE: its ROOT and SCALE, whatever SCALE's MODE is. Change the key there, or hold SEL + a key on the SCALE page. See SCALE.
• Seven-note scales are used as they are. Pentatonic and blues scales are harmonised in the seven-note mode that shares most of their notes and keeps their third: major pentatonic as major, minor pentatonic and blues as natural minor.
• The octave is the stock octave: OCT- / OCT+, as on every melodic page. A one-second message shows the new octave, and the CHORD page shows OCT +1 (or whatever it is) at top right. CHORD has no octave of its own.
• The tonic chord sits near middle C: roots C to E start at C4 to E4, roots F to B at F3 to B3.

Performance keys

Hold a performance key with the left hand while the right hand plays pads. Each pad press then plays one step of a cycle:

• One mode at a time: the last key pressed wins. A message names it: ARP UP, ARP DOWN, INVERSION UP, INVERSION DOWN, SPLIT BASS + CHORD, SPLIT LEFT + RIGHT.
• The cycle starts over on another pad, on another mode, and when you let go of the performance key.

LATCH

1. Press F (the lowest key). The message says LATCH ON and the LATCH key lights.
2. Tap a performance key: its mode stays on after you let go. Tap it again to turn it off.
3. Press F again for LATCH OFF. That also clears the latched mode.

LATCH latches the performance mode, not the chord: a pad still stops when you let go of it.

Key LEDs

While chord input is on, the key LEDs show the layout on every page: the eight pads and the six performance keys lit, LATCH lit when on. The active performance key and the sounding pad blink.

Recording chords

On TAPE, MIX, SOUND, SCALE, CHORD and the other melodic pages, chord notes are played and recorded like keys: REC records them onto the selected track, through the input quantizer, and SAVE can capture them after a pass.

Pro tip: Record a chord progression first with COLOUR on TRI, then turn COLOUR up on the next take: the same pads, richer chords, still in key.

Chords with ARP and SEQ

In SEQ step entry:

• A step holds at most four notes. Bigger chords are thinned: the perfect 5th goes first, then the 9th, 11th, 13th, 6th and an altered 5th. The root, the 3rd (or sus note) and the 7th stay, so Cmaj13 keeps C E B A.
• The performance keys shape what is written: with SPLIT held, a press writes the bass alone, the next the rest.
• Press the next pad before letting go of the last one and the previous step becomes a tie (legato).
• Hold SEQ + a key to write a rest.

Troubleshooting